dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaQuantum Positioning System
| Authors | Thomas B. Bahder |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/0406126 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0406126 |
Abstract
A quantum positioning system (QPS) is proposed that can provide a user with all four of his space-time coordinates. The user must carry a corner cube reflector, a good clock, and have a two-way classical channel of communication with the origin of the reference frame. Four pairs of entangled photons (biphotons) are sent through four interferometers: three interferometers are used to determine the user's spatial position, and an additional interferometer is used to synchronize the user's clock to coordinate time in the reference frame. The spatial positioning part of the QPS is similar to a classical time-of-arrival (TOA) system, however, a classical TOA system (such as GPS) must have synchronized clocks that keep coordinate time and therefore the clocks must have long-term stability, whereas in the QPS only a photon coincidence counter is needed and the clocks need only have short-term stability. Several scenarios are considered for a QPS: one is a terrestrial system and another is a space-based-system composed of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. Calculations indicate that for a space-based system, neglecting atmospheric effects, a position accuracy below the 1 cm-level is possible for much of the region near the Earth. The QPS may be used as a primary system to define a global 4-dimensional reference frame.
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"abstract": "A quantum positioning system (QPS) is proposed that can provide a user with\nall four of his space-time coordinates. The user must carry a corner cube\nreflector, a good clock, and have a two-way classical channel of communication\nwith the origin of the reference frame. Four pairs of entangled photons\n(biphotons) are sent through four interferometers: three interferometers are\nused to determine the user\u0027s spatial position, and an additional interferometer\nis used to synchronize the user\u0027s clock to coordinate time in the reference\nframe. The spatial positioning part of the QPS is similar to a classical\ntime-of-arrival (TOA) system, however, a classical TOA system (such as GPS)\nmust have synchronized clocks that keep coordinate time and therefore the\nclocks must have long-term stability, whereas in the QPS only a photon\ncoincidence counter is needed and the clocks need only have short-term\nstability. Several scenarios are considered for a QPS: one is a terrestrial\nsystem and another is a space-based-system composed of low-Earth orbit (LEO)\nsatellites. Calculations indicate that for a space-based system, neglecting\natmospheric effects, a position accuracy below the 1 cm-level is possible for\nmuch of the region near the Earth. The QPS may be used as a primary system to\ndefine a global 4-dimensional reference frame.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/0406126",
"authors": [
"Thomas B. Bahder"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph",
"gr-qc",
"physics.space-ph"
],
"title": "Quantum Positioning System",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0406126"
},
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